


Answering Questions

by b_enkeii



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Angst with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:34:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24283672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b_enkeii/pseuds/b_enkeii
Summary: Akechi may believe Akechi is evil, but Akira doesn't believe Akechi is evil; not really. Akira takes the chance to prove it.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 73





	Answering Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Look in the mirror; ask “Who the fuck are you?”  
> “What’s good with your life?” “What the fuck you gonna do?”  
> “Are you really happy with the way your time is spent?”  
> “If you die today would you really die content?”  
> Contents of individuals are sometimes shitty,  
> Lots of hidden ugliness inside beautiful cities  
> But the masses prevail, something’s gotta give  
> A simple note to remember: keep it positive
> 
> -Art of Verse, "Answering Questions"

The past two months had been incredibly stressful for the undercover thief. 

After realizing that Goro had heard (and understood) what Morgana had said in the TV station, the thieves had a meeting discussing what his connection to the metaverse could have been and how they could possibly bring it up to him without incriminating themselves to the police’s prettiest leashed pet. In some strange fit of an emotion he couldn’t put a name to, Akira decided that he would befriend and subsequently confront Akechi about his happenings in the other world. 

A huge gamble, obviously, but the vigilante group’s leader was confident he’d be able to bring the detective prince to some sort of agreement.

...And, though he’d never admit it to his teammates, he had a strong desire to know Akechi on a personal level. He was gorgeous, anyone could see that; and if there’s one thing Akira was lvl.5 Proficient in from day one, it was definitely his razor-sharp gaydar. Not even the deepest of closet cases could hide from the gayzerbeam that was Akira’s line of sight. Even the bit of back and forth on the TV studio stage was enough to put the dangerously dashing celesbian at the top of Akira’s grocery shopping list (because he’s a snack, get it?).

Akira knew his attraction-fueled path of positivity had paid off when Akechi began regularly visiting LeBlanc. He didn’t know who was watching out for him and providing him the perfect in, but the second-floor resident was eternally grateful for their assistance. He utilized every opportunity to speak with Akechi, asking him about his day or his interests and trying to learn everything he could about the other. 

“Ah, it would appear as though this is checkmate again, Akira-kun”, Akechi smiled.

When he became legitimately, romantically, and emotionally interested in Akechi, he wasn’t sure. Anytime he was on TV or somewhere that could be considered public, the walls were in their upright position, perfect façade plastered to his face. But when Akechi came into LeBlanc, he seemed to lower his walls, even if just a little bit, and Akira felt as though he was able to really see Akechi in earnest. The first time that Akira cracked a joke at something they’d been talking about and he was able to see a genuine, contented smile from Akechi, the thief knew he was in trouble. The leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts had had his heart stolen, and by a potential enemy, no less.

This contradiction kept Akira up some nights, and he was growing more irritated. Irritated with himself for falling for a detective hunting his group, who may or may not have the same ability as them, and irritated at the boy himself for being the most charming when he wasn’t trying to be.

“Ah, so it is,” Akira conceded, not finding it in himself to serve a witty comeback. He took his long-cold coffee in hand, then stilled, just looking down at his drink with a faint emotionless smile still in place.

Akechi got up with the intention of putting the well-used game away before noticing his opponent’s contradictory body language.

“Um.. Akira-kun, is something the matter?” He asked, sitting back down. “I’ve had the feeling that something is bothering you for most of the evening, as while I more often than not win matches, you always display a level of strategy and sportsmanship. And, what with you not offering any sort of comical remark during any of our three games, it’s almost felt like I’ve been playing a computer.”

Akira looked up with mild surprise; caught off-guard not by the detective’s ability to detect a change within him, but by the fact that the usually artificially-composed TV personality was looking to him with a genuine level of concern.

“I apologize if I’m overstepping my bounds,” Akechi continued quickly, “I was under the impression that we were acquaintances on the way to becoming friends, and I understand that these are things that friends discuss with one another”. He rubbed the back of his neck (damn nervous habit) as a barely noticeable tint of pink made its way onto the usually-composed boy’s face. “As you can probably guess, I don’t have many acquaintances that I would consider to be my friends, so I’d like to be a better friend to those I do.”

Akira felt his heart melt. 

He was so awkward, and so, so cute. 

“Oh, sorry,” Akira stood and took Akechi’s now empty coffee cup in hand, not making eye contact so as to hide the faint dusting of pink appearing on his cheeks. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind recently, is all.” He sets the cups in the sink and turns back to face the brunette. 

“Sorry to have worried you,” Akira says with a smile that bleeds more affection than he thought possible.

“Ah, well.” Akechi suddenly finds it difficult to keep eye contact. The immense warmth and comforting honesty of the other boy’s was almost too much for the emotionally-starved teen to handle. “Glad it was nothing serious.”

“That’s just it though,” Akira starts making his way back to the table, “it’s very serious. It’s something I’ve been going back and forth on and it’s been stressing me the hell out. The entire time we’ve been sitting here I’ve been playing out scenarios of how I could possibly bring it up without breaking something beyond repair and it’s terrifying.”

Akechi has never been a fan of tactile intimacy of any level, but things were different with Akira. He found himself acting almost out of instinct, meeting his friend in the middle of the cafe and placing an awkward yet comforting hand on his arm. Goro often surprised himself with the thoughts and actions he took when with Akira, not really knowing he was capable of such feelings of camaraderie. No, that wasn’t quite right. But he just couldn’t think of a word that correctly described what he experienced around the raven.

“This is obviously not my department of expertise, but if simply speaking your concerns aloud for someone to hear would ease your anxieties, I’d be happy to listen,” Akechi said trying to fight the weird fuzziness that came with Akira’s relieved, grateful smile. There was something in Akira’s eyes. He remembered having seen it before, far too long ago to recall when and where though. It made him feel… uncomfortable. Not bad, per say, just uncomfortable. Whatever it was, there was enough time since he’d encountered it for him to be unable to name or describe that ‘something’.

“Thank you, Goro.”

But as his cheeks heated and his stomach fluttered, Goro was slowly beginning to understand just what his feelings that he had previously attributed to ‘camaraderie’ were.

. . . 

Sat on the tattered couch in the attic of the cafe, Akira’s mind was running a million miles an hour. What if Akechi hated him? What if he didn’t? Could he like him? Was he capable of that level of emotion? With how emotionally damaged Akira gathered he was? What if Akechi wanted to kill him? What if he tried? Now? How do you even get blood out of unfinished wood floors? Even if he were killed, Sojiro would still be the one angrily haunting-

“-kira, are you ok? Akira?”

All of the thoughts going a million miles an hour in Akira’s head came to a halt when he realized that Akechi was speaking to him. “Yeah, sorry, I’m just…” he trailed off staring blankly into the space of his lap, really not knowing what he even ‘was’ in that moment.

“I can tell that this is something that’s really been bothering you,” Akechi’s voice immediately soothing the nervous wreck sat before him as a warm, gloved hand found its way to gently rest atop his.

Akira placed his other hand to sandwich Akechi’s between his two. He felt his heartbeat, steadily increasing, thumping in his ears. He was silently thankful for his crush’s peculiar taste in fashion, as he wouldn’t be able to feel how quickly Akira’s palms began to sweat. He turned to face Goro straight on while reaching for his other hand; whether it was to seek comfort in gentle contact, keep himself from passing out, or keep the detective from running out the door, he’d never know. 

Deep breath in, deep breath out. 

There was no going back now. 

“I don’t even know where to begin, and I’m gonna apologize now for how unorganized this is gonna be but please just bear with me.” Deep breath in, deep breath out. “The only thing I ask of you is that you listen to all of it. I don’t want you to run, I need you to listen carefully and don’t make any judgement calls until I’ve finished. I don’t want you to just wait to speak, I want you to really listen and understand me. Then, at the end, you can make a decision, and I won’t ever hold whatever you decide against you.”

“You know, Akira, you’re making me a little nervous…” Akechi felt his palms clam up within his gloves. The palpable uneasiness coming from the boy sat beside him was dense, beginning to crawl over his skin, sink deep into his pores. He had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be any better once Akira got to the damn point.

“Okay, um, alright,” Deep breath in… fuck, he was shaking. He lets go of Akechi’s hands in a poor attempt to hide his overactive nerves. But who was Akira kidding, Akechi was a fucking detective for chrissake and even an idiot would have noticed his trembling.

“Well, uh, as I think you might have figured out by now, or at least guessed, I’m a phantom thief and I go to a parallel dimension to steal materialized desires of scumbags, and I know you know this because I have a talking cat who turns into a bus that only talks to you if you’ve been to that world and you heard him talking about pancakes, so that means you’ve been to the metaverse, and I may have coincidentally overheard a phone conversation you were having about possibly maybe putting lead between my eyes, so I wanted to get closer to you and figure out why and possibly get you into the gang and out of your shitty situation, but then I got really distracted because you’re too fucking handsome for your own good and then you showed me glimpses of yourself and not the TV detective, and then you weren’t just handsome but also sweet and charming and I could tell that we were similar in the fact that we have aggressive contempt for adults who fucking suck before I even heard you talking to someone who’s using you as their personal hitman, and I thought that if anyone deserves to be happy it’s you and I really want to make that happen and see it happen because you’ve already been through so much bullshit in your life and I want to punish the people who used you and hurt you and afterwards then maybe even become a source of happiness for you because I’m stupid in love with you and I had a tiny feeling that maybe you felt for me too because I can spot a gay from a mile away but that also could have just been my desires and me wanting you to be gay and wanting you to also like me and holy shit that was a lot I’m sorry I couldn’t stop and holy shit Akira breathe-”

Deep breath in, deep breath out. 

Again. 

Still shaking, but better?

One more.

Fueled by his own panic, as well as the inability to decipher what Akechi’s silence meant, Akira took the opportunity to summarize.

“Um, so basically if there was anything to gather from that verbal diarrhea, it’s that I’m the leader of the phantom thieves, I know you know about the metaverse and that there’s some dark shit in you that some high up schmuck decided to play around with, and I wanted to become friends with you so I could help you but then fell ‘to-the-depths-of-Tartarus’ in love with you because I’m an absolute gay disaster and don’t know how to deal with feelings.”

Akira could finally begin to breathe a bit more evenly. He briefly considers taking Goro’s hand in his, but he ultimately decided he wasn’t that calm just yet, so he settles with establishing the first solid eye contact between the two since just before Akira had begun pouring his soul onto the attic floor.

“I want to be completely transparent with you,” he says, softer. “I care about you more than words can say, Goro. I want to be someone you can rely on, someone you can trust, someone you can share in your burden. I understand that as we speak, you still have plans to get rid of me, but that still didn’t stop me from falling deeper and deeper. 

“But I want you to understand something, too. Being a ‘tool’ to some corporate dickbag doesn’t make you weak. In fact, I think you’re probably one of the strongest people I know. It also doesn’t mean that you’re not worth saving, or you’re too far beyond redemption. I’ve tried to put myself in your shoes and think of what I’d do after all was said and done, but I couldn’t, and the thought that you couldn’t or just hadn’t made me wonder if you even saw a future for yourself after everything and it breaks my fucking heart. You deserve to be loved and appreciated, you deserve to have a future, and you deserve to be happy. I want to see that happen, Goro. Hell, I want to make it happen. I want to be happy with you.”

For all of the social etiquette he may have had, no amount of training would ever be enough to know how to deal with the warm, crushing emotion Akira was burying him in. He’d spent enough time creating a false persona for himself that he could tell when one was genuine. If there was a light to signal his truth, his emotion, it would surely be a blinding beacon, bright enough to be seen across oceans.

An immensely overwhelmed Goro couldn’t find in himself to look into the sun any longer, and brought his chin to his chest, gloved hands holding onto his slacks with a desperate grip. He could feel tears threatening to fall, wanted to hide himself away, but what was the point? His cards were all on the table, folded by the enigmatic thief before him.

He felt a hand on his knee, comforting, and just shy of his own hand in his lap, as if to say ‘there’s no pressure, it’s here if you want it’. Even after learning of his demise at the hands of the other, it was still there ‘if he wants it’.

That he’s there if Goro wants it.

What DID Goro want?

Such a simple question to have never been asked. If you’d asked his 15-year-old self, hellbent on getting revenge against an all-too powerful manipulator, there was only one thing on his mind.

But now… Now was different. HE was different. Even if in such a short time, he’d learned and felt things he didn’t know he was even capable of experiencing. Brief snippets of happiness, what he could be if he let some of the hate be pushed out of his heart with something else, something warmer and beautiful.

He’s been so focused on exacting his revenge that he didn’t have time for such things, such feelings. Feelings for the leader of the supernatural thieves, and dare he say even slightly for the other members of the thieves. People who probably planned to make his piece-of-shit father confess all of his wrong-doings and publicly shame himself as he reveals his true persona to the people of Japan before he’s hauled off to prison.

And, as far as possible outcomes for Shido, a punishment worse than death honestly didn’t sound too bad.

A flame deprived of fuel, his malice extinguishes itself, and Goro feels the closest thing to peace he thinks he’s ever felt.

“I don’t expect you to have an answer right away, it’s obviously a lot to-… Goro?”

Two gloved hands enveloped Akira’s while Goro squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again to reassure himself he wasn’t indulging in his own fairytale fantasy. But when he brought his eyes up to meet warm, lovely grey, the reality of the situation began to settle in.

“You never cease to surprise me, Akira.”

The wild card smiled, warm, loving, relieved.

“In good ways, I hope,” he placed his other hand over the sandwich of extremities between them.

“I think so. And, if I didn’t know any better, it sounded as though you were confessing your love at the end there.”

Akira’s smile fell a little as he flushed, “Oh, well, uh, I guess I probably should have held back a bit with that, I’m sorry if it felt like I was pushing or making things awkward, even if it’s not like that I still-”

“I didn’t say no, though.”

“-plan to be friends and what? Uh? You- what?”   
Akira looked at his love with widened eyes, finding a set of newfound resolve staring back at him

“I never said no,” he repeated, taking a shaky breath. “Though, you’ll have to forgive me, this is one of the very few areas in which I am not very experienced.”

Even if Goro was wearing gloves, the warmth of Akira’s lips melted his heart from his palm.

“I’m not worried,” Akira smiled and slowly snuck his hands up to gently cup Goro’s cheeks. “If it’s us together…” 

He brought their foreheads to rest together, and the world only existed between them, any worry temporarily drowned by the intimacy of their promise.

“...we’ll have an entire lifetime.” 

And though they were the softest words Akira had spoken to him, they were the loudest his heart had ever heard.

**Author's Note:**

> yokoso to the shitshow
> 
> I wanted to write like a 14 year old for my first piece of literature in actual years. I left this alone for a while, so if there’s a break in flow or atmosphere, there’s my shitty explanation why
> 
> there’s a section in here where i tried my darndest to express the feeling of panic with syntax and its just garbage so if anyone has some constructive criticism or just advice in general for improving my rusty ass writing please hmu thanks bbys
> 
> But in all seriousness, thank you so much for reading. Take a breath, and take care :)


End file.
